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Do you want to win a Tamagotchi Virtual Pet? Skip down to the bottom of this post. First some business to take care of…

Education.com Giveaway WinnersI totally suck at running contests. Months ago, I posted a giveaway for some toys that the good folks at Education.com offered to give to 3 of my readers. Remember that? No? Well my archives say I did, so I drew some winners today:

You've heard of Huntsman spiders, right? They're HUGE (but scared of people, I'm told). I was in a 'pit toilet' in Australia, at a park in the rain forest. Drawers dropped, I look up into the corner and see one looking down on me. It was the size of my hand if he spread his legs out, but I didn't take the time to compare. I would have peed my pants if I wasn't where I was. I screamed and pulled up my pants and when I looked back it was gone. That is the fastest exit from a bathroom I've ever made! And Pit Toilets were thoroughly inspected from there on out before I sat down. Eeps!

When I was in my early 20s, I spent 10 days camping and hiking in Scotland with my then-boyfriend. We had "wellies" (those knee-high rubber boots the British use for stomping about in damp places) that we used for much of our exploring, since we were crossing damp moor land, covered with ferns, heather, and so on. (Side note: my hair has never been lovelier nor my skin more dewy and lovelier than on that trip.) Anyhoo, we used to leave the damp and muddy wellies outside the tent at night, so as not to mud up the sleeping bags. One morning, I put mine on, and they felt a bit odd, but I didn't really think anything of it. I walked around for a few hours before I finally couldn't stand the wadded-up-sock under my instep feeling anymore and pulled off the wellie. Sock was just fine. Confused, I reached into the boot, and pulled out a FOUR INCH LONG, incredibly fat, very slimy, slick, black, and mercifully now dead SLUG. So charming. That night, we had fresh farm eggs cooked on our camping burner and luscious strawberries for dinner, and the world was all right again. But I'll never really forget the long trails of slime. Oh, the slime...

They’re probably on V7 by now but…Months and months and months ago, the folks at Bandai America FedEx’d me a huge box full of Tamagotchi stuff to give away. In retrospect, they could have strapped it on one of MommyTime’s slugs and saved the shipping charges. Better late than never is what I always say (because it’s usually my last line of defense).

You remember Virtual Pets, right? Virtual pets are a great idea. Everyone loves real pets, but they are a pain to carry around on your neck.

Pet Bling

With Virtual Pets, you can enjoy all of the fun, excitement and responsibility of raising a pet in the convenience of a colorful, fun gadget worn like a necklace. Back in the day, you could only raise one virtual pet at a time. With Tamagotchi’s latest V5, kids can raise an entire family of virtual pets at one time. And depending on how you raise that family, it develops its own personality (intellectual, artistic, laid back, etc.). And like a good social networking concept, you can link up to your friends’ pets and hook up and make kids. Who would have thought that infrared technology could be so naughty? Ok, so they get “married,” but still. [Removed this part of my post because it referenced a promotion that has long ended. Procrastination rocks...]

Unfortunately, it also means you can kill an entire family of pets at one time.

I have a few of these sets you see below to give away. Just leave a comment and you’re entered. It’s ok if you don’t have kids. By the time I get around to drawing these, you’ll probably have a couple of em.